Sailing Hawaii to Alaska: A North Pacific Crossing

Sailing Hawaii to Alaska is one of the great bluewater passages of the North Pacific. Beginning in the tropical Hawaiian Islands and ending thousands of miles away along the rugged coastline of Southeast Alaska, British Columbia or the Pacific Northwest, this passage offers an extraordinary transition from warm trade-wind sailing to the cooler and more demanding waters of the northern Pacific.

For sailors dreaming of crossing the Pacific and sailing to Alaska, this is a true North Pacific crossing involving offshore navigation, weather routing, around-the-clock watchkeeping, vessel management, safety systems, and an introduction to professional weather routing. Throughout the passage, the crew experiences and participates in all aspects of cruising and operating a true bluewater sailing vessel over thousands of miles of open ocean.

At One World Sailing Academy, our passage begins on Oʻahu, where the crew comes aboard and we begin preparing together for the journey ahead. We take the time to properly prepare the vessel and crew for what will be a significant offshore passage.

The first leg from Oʻahu to Kauaʻi gives us several days to get to know the vessel—and each other. During this time, we conduct a complete vessel orientation, establish watchkeeping procedures and crew responsibilities, review safety equipment and communications, and practice emergency procedures. We work with the sails and sailing systems, review navigation and weather information, and begin developing the routines that will become part of everyday life once we are offshore.

This initial passage also gives everyone an opportunity to become accustomed to the motion of the boat, standing watches, preparing meals underway, sleeping at sea and working together as a crew. It gives us time to identify questions, become familiar with onboard systems and make any final adjustments before departing on our North Pacific crossing.

We then plan to spend several days anchored in beautiful Hanalei Bay on Kauaʻi’s north shore. Hanalei provides an extraordinary setting for our final preparations. The crew can rest, explore Kauaʻi and enjoy one of Hawaii’s most beautiful anchorages while we continue monitoring North Pacific weather and evaluating the developing conditions for our departure.

When the vessel is ready, the crew is ready and we have an appropriate weather window, we raise anchor in Hanalei Bay and leave the Hawaiian Islands behind.

Ahead of us lies the open North Pacific—and thousands of miles of true bluewater sailing.

Preparing the Vessel and Crew

Before departing Hawaii, the vessel is prepared for an extended offshore passage.

Rigging, sails, steering, engine, charging systems, navigation equipment, communications and safety equipment are inspected. Fuel, water and provisions are calculated with appropriate reserves. Emergency procedures are reviewed, and the crew becomes familiar with the vessel before heading offshore.

All emergency procedures and practices are covered prior to departing Hawaii for Alaska or the Pacific Northwest.

Once offshore, vessel inspections continue throughout the passage. Rigging is checked. Bilges and machinery spaces are inspected. Electrical consumption and battery charging are managed. We typically make fresh water daily with our onboard watermaker—approximately 20 gallons per day, or less when our needs are lower. Weather and navigation information are reviewed every day.

This is what operating a self-sufficient cruising vessel thousands of miles from land actually requires.

Flexibility Is Key in a North Pacific Crossing

There is no single predetermined route when sailing from Hawaii to Alaska or the Pacific Northwest. We leave Hawaii, continually monitor the weather, and use both our onboard analysis and professional weather routing to position the vessel for the most favorable conditions available to us.

As we cross the North Pacific and approach North America, our position and the conditions ahead will ultimately determine where we make landfall. Our goal is simple: work with the weather, position the vessel wisely, and make the best landfall based on the conditions we encounter.

A true bluewater cruising crew may leave Hawaii with the goal of sailing to Sitka, Alaska, but experienced sailors understand that the ocean and weather ultimately determine the route. If the conditions across the North Pacific keep us farther south and ultimately lead us toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we would not consider that a disappointment or a change for the worse. It is simply part of bluewater cruising—learning to let the weather dictate where and when you sail rather than forcing the vessel toward a destination.

In fact, a more southerly landfall simply creates another adventure. From Vancouver Island and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we can begin working our way north for hundreds of miles through the Inside Passage toward Southeast Alaska. That is exactly the kind of cruising we want to do anyway. The objective is not to force a particular dot on the chart; it is to cross the North Pacific safely, make intelligent decisions along the way, and embrace where the passage takes us.

Weather Routing Is Part of the Experience

Weather forecasting and route planning are critical during a North Pacific crossing. In addition to our own onboard weather analysis, we employ a professional weather-routing service staffed by experienced meteorologists who specialize in routing vessels through challenging areas of the world’s oceans.

Throughout the passage, we communicate regularly with our weather routers, sharing our position and the conditions we are experiencing while receiving updated forecasts, professional analysis and routing recommendations.

The entire crew participates in downloading and interpreting weather information aboard the vessel and can compare what we are seeing and interpreting onboard with the analysis provided by professional meteorologists.

Ultimately, the decisions remain aboard the vessel. We use all of the information available to us to position the vessel for the most favorable conditions possible as we cross the North Pacific.

Life at Sea

During a North Pacific crossing of this length, the boat becomes its own small world.

The crew settles into an around-the-clock watch schedule. Someone is always responsible for the vessel. Day becomes night and night becomes day as watches rotate continuously throughout the passage.

Meals are prepared underway. Weather information is downloaded and analyzed. Navigation and vessel position are continually monitored. Sail combinations change as conditions change. Batteries must be charged, water produced, equipment inspected and the vessel kept organized and functioning.

As the passage progresses north, the temperatures begin to change. Warmer clothing and foul-weather gear come out, and eventually we begin using the vessel’s diesel-fueled heating system. It is simply another part of adapting to life at sea as we sail from the tropics into the colder waters of the North Pacific.

This is a fully immersive offshore sailing experience. Throughout the passage, all aspects of seamanship, vessel operation and bluewater passage-making are learned and practiced as part of everyday life aboard the vessel.

Just as importantly, the crew learns about fatigue, teamwork and judgment.

After enough days offshore, passage-making develops its own rhythm. The coastline disappears, outside distractions fall away, and life becomes centered around the vessel, the crew, the weather and the ocean.

Landfall in Alaska or the Pacific Northwest

After weeks at sea, landfall takes on an entirely different meaning.

Our primary goal is Sitka, Alaska, but the final destination of this passage will ultimately be determined by the North Pacific weather. If conditions make Sitka impractical, our alternate landfalls may include Ketchikan, Alaska; Prince Rupert, British Columbia; or the Pacific Northwest near Vancouver Island and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Wherever we arrive, the first sight of the mountains and heavily forested coastline of North America will mark the completion of an extraordinary journey—and thousands of miles of true bluewater sailing from Hawaii.

There is something difficult to describe about seeing land again after weeks at sea. You realize what you and the crew have accomplished together, and you cannot help but think about the generations of sailors and explorers who crossed these same waters long before modern navigation, satellite communications and weather forecasting existed. You have followed, in your own small way, in the wake of people who crossed oceans under sail and helped shape the history of exploration.

After thousands of miles of open ocean, that first sight of the northern coast is more than simply reaching a destination. It is the completion of a genuine ocean passage—something you prepared for, participated in and accomplished as part of a crew. That feeling of making landfall under your own sail after crossing a major ocean is one of the great rewards of bluewater sailing.

For One World, however, the journey north will continue. We are also developing additional sailing expeditions through Southeast Alaska and the Inside Passage, potentially continuing toward Glacier Bay from wherever our North Pacific crossing brings us. Those adventures will be offered separately from this passage.

For the crew aboard this trip, the accomplishment is the North Pacific crossing itself: departing the tropical Hawaiian Islands, sailing thousands of miles across one of the world’s great oceans, navigating changing weather systems and finally making landfall along the wild northern coast of North America.

An Extraordinary Journey

The crew that arrives on the North American coast will be different from the crew that departed Hanalei Bay.

Together, we will have prepared a vessel, left Hawaii behind, crossed thousands of miles of open ocean, stood watches around the clock, navigated changing weather systems, maintained the boat and made real decisions about our route and destination.

It is an actual North Pacific crossing aboard a fully equipped bluewater cruising vessel, with all of the challenges, uncertainty, responsibility and rewards that come with it.

At One World Sailing Academy, our goal is to provide a fully immersive bluewater sailing and cruising experience—one that develops not only sailing skills, but the confidence, judgment and self-sufficiency required to operate an ocean-going vessel.

From the tropical waters of Hawaii to the mountains and forests of the northern Pacific coast, sailing from Hawaii to Alaska is an opportunity to experience one of the world’s great ocean passages.

Oʻahu → Hanalei Bay → North Pacific → Alaska / British Columbia / Vancouver Island / Pacific Northwest

The exact route remains unwritten.

The weather, the ocean and the decisions we make along the way will determine where the journey takes us.